Today's Weather in Your Garden - 21

I feel like I am in Kansas, it is nothing but a dust bowl here. I would almost be willing to kill "something" for 2 days of rain. My house work is going to the dogs.

pirl - I bought two clematis plants last year. One is called "Polish Spirit," which I have on a trellis beside the side door that we use all the time. The other is called "Beth Currie" and I am encouraging it up a tuteur that we put in the back yard. When it makes it to the top I will be able to see it from the kitchen window. We were away for a few days and one tendril decided it liked the deutzia shrub next to it when I wasn't looking. But I teased it away and put it on the tuteur. There are some buds, but no blooms yet. They do look wonderful climbing a shrub or tree if you have the right combination as you do.

Too hot today. I was dying out there. Finished most of the rock hiding project - at least in the front. Planted some castor bean seeds too. 77 right now. Any suggestions for a perennial for sun - part to full, that has bushy foliage? Not geranium. Thanks.

Nanegoat66, feeder fish??? Does that mean that they are bait fish for bigger fish and I should feel good if they like the deep end for the summer, but not cry when they don't survive the winter as at least I didn't feed them to a big koi?
The end does not ever drain and is about 6" deep and 8' x 3' or so. Here is a picture of part of the end that always has water in it, even when the falls are turned off.

Victor here are a few that come to mine. Montauk Daisy, Nippon Daisy Nipponanthemum nipponicum http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/97532/
It is my go to for a filler that blooms very late, but looks great as a big mound for the whole summer. 21/2 feet plus more when in bloom.

Also I love big patches of Common Sage, Salvia officinalis and it does well in full to part sun for me. It looks great into the winter. I whack it back in the late fall and it has grown well for the last 25 years. Plus it is great for the stuffing. Mine gets to about 2 1/2 feet plus more when blooming.

This is another big bush perennial that has late blooms but looks great now and through the summer. Lespedeza thunbergii 'Gibraltar'. 4 to 5 feet

Baptisia australis is another that has great presence in a garden all summer, plus the deer don't like it and it can take part sun. It is hard to move once it is settled kind of like your grass. Or at least it was for me. 4 feet Patti

Thanks Patti. I like Baptisia. Have a couple but will get more. I'll check the others out.

Oh no Patti - I chose them because they are cheap and if my water was not going to sustain life, I would rather kill a 23 cent fish than a 23 dollar fish(koi). Now I just love 'em. I feel like I gave them a life they never would have had considering what they are bred for. Goldfish grow to the size of the environment they are placed in. I will someday have koi sized gold fish. You could always get a few(as long as the 6" doesn't get too warm) and bring them in during the winter...
Gorgeous deep end, btw

Victor - I like Lady's Mantle (alchemilla mollis) for its foliage. Mine have done well in either sun or shade. The blooms are pretty, too, and I like them with the blue Siberian iris.

Thanks, but I have loads of it already.

I thought of daisies also, Victor, but a short phlox like Little Laura is also nice & bushy. I loved the clematis pictures, & Nane's rock feature. The weather was warm--82--& cloudy & windy--seems we have an awful lot of wind lately! The beds look so nice--I hoed the veggies this evening, & saw chimney swifts overhead. I hope I can pull up the iris.

I also have verbascum Southern Charm in bloom.

marcha - you have a lot to look foward to with both of those Clematis. They do tend to wander off at times.

Another great day in the garden and I did save a patch to be cleaned up under a big old pine so even if it's raining in the morning I can get it done. Working in the shade helped a lot but working in the sun was too hot. The good part of it was that I worked like a demon in the rose garden to get it back in shape and it only took three horrible hours. After that I worked in the shade until 6:30.

It felt so grand to plant the last of the perennials (Monarda 'Bergamo') and all the remaining impatiens, petunias (three kinds) and snapdragons. Hurray!

Temp 68.1°, wind S 8.7 mph, Baro steady @ 29.73. ☺

Planted (3) Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima', (3) Aster Alma Potsohke, and a 6½' Yellow Delicious Apple Tree. - all after 5pm!

Victor I suggest a Euphorbia, (the one with tiny white flowers).

Which euphorbia is that, WC?

Diamond Frost, they have it up to VA with protection, I'm experimenting with Silver Fog at 8-10" this year and it's taken very well so far, have to put some pics up... probably add it to the database as a new plant since it's not listed. ☺

Just bought 'Fen's Ruby' last week. It looks so different from the usual Euphorbias.

That's interesting, looks like a sedum/ evergreen/ yarrow!. ☺

Watch the spread on that one, Pirl. I have a cyparissias and it has spread quite a bit.

How big are you looking for, Victor?

Sorry to break up the plant conversation, which I must admit, has been very educational. I'll give my weather report, and then you can get back to helping Victor with finding a perfect perennial.

Currently:
Cloudy and threatening to rain (yippee!!)
59° and very humid with the humidity listed at 77%! The dewpoint is a bit uncomfortable at 52° and the barometric pressure is at 29.89 in. and rising.

Now, back to helping Victor.

Rain, 56, clouds and Cape Cod in store for tomorrow. Then comes sunshine!

Thanks for the warning, Victor. I'll keep an eye on them.

This message was edited Jun 4, 2008 7:01 AM

It is raining, anything is better than nothing.

YAY! Rain! No watering new plantings or orchids. Got to sleep late!

I hate weather like mine, clouds and spittle for rain, humis as all H--- ,Can't work planting Hostas without glasses filling up with sweat. YES sweat.
I know Horses sweat
Men perspire
and
Women glow
but this is sweat ,itchy too.

Ha. We are having a nice steady rain here. I'll send it over to you this PM.
Victor what about a peony? Or a tree peony? I love the flowers, the dying flowers, and the foliage all season. Or weigela. Or a hydrangea (I especially like the japanese ones). Do you want it to die down to the ground in winter?

I guess the two foot range. I'm 0 for 2 with tree peonies, Boojum, but herbaceous ones are a possibility. Doesn't matter if it dies down or not. My goal is to see NO ground or mulch. That's the best weeding approach. I am establishing ground covers but that takes time. For part shade to shade, hellebores are perfect. I might use a small hydrangea in the areas with a bit more shade. Thanks for all the suggestions.

58 and drizzling.

Finally some rain ~ light showers, though, would best describe the precipitation.

52 and it's raining..started last night and im so very glad!

Pouring and 57. Good day to build a bird house...

Cloudy, cool but humid, & everything is wet! Not a garden day, but a clean house-grocery shopping day. I agree with your philosophy, Victor, of packing in the plants---my per. beds are squashed in, but all seem to bloom nicely---what I am weeding out are the invasive plants, and the few weeds that manage to sneak in.

I have more than my share of invasives too, Robin.

Rain, rain, rain
Yesterday, I got to trim back all the rhodys that were done blooming.
Monday-absolutely beautiful outside all day... helped hubby trim back some brush and trees that were effecting his path when mowing.
Sunday, was a beautiful day for the air show at McGuire AFB.

Still raining here.....love it, but can't wait to get out there and get back to planting. I bought a Knockout Rose at HD today.....it just grabbed me and it was on sale and I was hooked. What can I say? Now that I've ripped out all that horrid oregano, I actually have room for more plants in my Friendship Garden. So, I'm my own best friend - sometimes - therefore, I really should give myself a plant for my Friendship Garden. Right? My money has been going towards compost, soil and mulch this year....very few plant purchases, except coleus and caladiums.

The loggers are having a field day causing problems on our dirt road. So far, they have taken out the hilltop by our house with 3-foot deep ruts that no car could tackle. We had to back all the way down the hill and get our 4-wheel drive Jeep, and even then, we barely got through. The school bus driver had a fit and got quick results from the new owner of both the land and also the logging outfit. Today they took out the overhead telephone wires, so my DH had to post a sign saying "low wires" while we waited for the phone company to rush here before the next 18-wheeler came through. The neighbors are up in arms, because the logging began this morning at 4:15 a.m. Believe me, there's no sleeping once they start. They have amazing high tech equipment now....loud and fast and voila!....the woods are no more....it looks like WW3 back there. I'm so glad we have a buffer of woods. The tree frogs have been indignant about it all.

What will be done with the hilltop after the logging?

It will be 150 acres of devastation that they hope to sell. Many of our neighboring farms have put hundreds of acres of woods under a conservation easement recently, so hopefully the conservancy may want it. It is the original first settler tract that our 100-acre farm was carved out of in the 40s. We would have bought the land if we could have, but not in retirement!! We walked back through our woods to see it, got sick and turned around and came home sad. Part of the big beaver pond that gives us such wonderful sounds at night is on that parcel, as well as partly on ours. Want to buy it, Victor? We'd love having you as a neighbor

I'd love to. They would have to put the trees back, though.

victor i have a suggestion. Cranesbill - also called geranium roseanne. It grows to 2 ft wide to 2/3 ft. tall and gets violet blue flowers throughout the summer. the foliage is dark green marbled and chartreuse and creates attractive mounds season long. Copied ths from the plastic id. I just got back from Mahoney's Nursery and asked the perennial guy there. He claims this is the hands down winner based on your description. I bought one. Not sure if he really likes it or that it matched his blue aussie clogs.

btw they only have 3 shirazz left. fathers day is coming.

They'll grow back eventually, but they really tore the land apart. Most of what they took was made into wood chips for pellet stoves. They dragged the trees, branches, leaves and all, through the skidder roads and then chipped all the small trees and all the branches. They took those out in huge tractor trailers, and the logs are going out on traditional logging trucks. Poor animals back there!

Bill, I have several varieties of cranesbill and love it. It is VERY easy to root and to separate.

Ha ha, Bill. It is the ground cover I am establishing in that area! Have many of them. I highly recommend it - but that's why I said not a geranium. I'm looking for some more variety. I have more Rozanne on its way right now!

Louise, maybe I'll end up with the pellets for my stove!

thx Donniebrook - this is my first one - if I like it there is room for more there. See a pic to Victor if you have one.